Surprise celeb pregnancies give pause

By Donna Freydkin, USA TODAY

Some stars pose on endless red carpets, cradling their voluminous baby bumps and cooing about their pregnancies. Others take a decidedly different approach, in some cases stemming from their non-traditional approaches to adding to their families.

By Pascal Le Segretain, Getty Images

Elizabeth Banks surprised the entertainment media this week with her announcement of the birth of her son, Felix, via a gestational surrogate.

Elizabeth Banks surprised the entertainment media this week with her announcement of the birth of her son, Felix, via a gestational surrogate.

The one common denominator: making a big splash, on their own terms.

"The trend is about being dramatic," says Amy Tara Koch, author of Bump It Up. "In the old days, your publicist would make a statement for you. Now it's a free-for-all with the paparazzi, so it's better to pre-empt speculation. Celebrities want to use their blogs and Twitter to let a ton of people know in their own voice. Social media is such a powerful tool. It's about using the most powerful medium available to you and not being shy."

Case in point: 30 Rock's Elizabeth Banks, who posted a very unexpected note on her personal blog March 30 letting fans know that she and her husband, Max Handelman, had welcomed son Felix via a gestational surrogate.

"The one true hurdle I've faced in life is that I have a broken belly. After years of trying to get pregnant, exploring the range of fertility treatments, all unsuccessful, our journey led us to gestational surrogacy," wrote Banks, who until then had not discussed, in public, her inability to have kids.

And, added the actress, "If you need me, I'll be changing dirty diapers and trying to get some sleep."

Perhaps what's most surprising — or not, given the fact that the celebrities in question get paid to pretend to be other people— is how they manage to keep their news to themselves without ever slipping up. Nicole Kidman navigated an entire Oscar campaign for her drama Rabbit Hole without revealing that she and husband Keith Urban were expecting daughter Faith Margaret, also via gestational surrogate.

"Our family is truly blessed, and just so thankful, to have been given the gift of baby Faith Margaret," the family said in a statement about their second child, born Dec. 28 in Nashville. "No words can adequately convey the incredible gratitude that we feel for everyone who was so supportive throughout this process, in particular our gestational carrier." The paparazzi finally got a shot of the tot in March, at San Francisco's airport with her mother.

Of course, the Oscar for best performance in the startling baby announcement category goes to Sandra Bullock, who revealed her son Louis Bardo on the cover of People magazine in August — three months after his top-secret adoption. Bullock, too, had posed on countless red carpets and conducted innumerable interviews promoting her performance in The Blind Side without divulging news about her son, or even mentioning that she was considering adoption.

"There is a growing momentum to keep it quiet longer, but that's more about the variety of different ways people are becoming parents. They worry about somethng falling through, or the safety of the person who's carrying the baby," says celebrity baby expert Ali Wing, founder and CEO of the Giggle stores.

And when registering for gifts at her stores, says Wing, "very few celebrities use their real names. We do after-hours meetings with a lot of them."

Other celebs sidestep publicists or other paid spokespeople to share their news directly with fans. How I Met Your Mother's Neil Patrick Harris took to Twitter to announce, last August, that he and partner David Burtka were expecting twins. "We're super excited/nervous/thrilled. Hoping the press can respect our privacy ..." No such luck, NPH. So the actor turned to Twitter again, announcing on Oct. 15 that his bundles of joy had arrived: "All of us are happy, healthy, tired, and a little pukey," he wrote.

"Honor is going to be a Big Sister! Cash and I are thrilled and wanted to share the news directly with you so you didn't hear about it somewhere else," the pregnant actress wrote Feb. 16.

Mariah Carey and her husband Nick Cannon revealed her pregnancy during an interview on NBC's Today Show last October. "Yes, we're pregnant, this is true. It's still early, we're expecting in the spring," the singer said, confirming ongoing speculation that she was pregnant.

Carey then used Twitter to keep her fans up-to-date, Tweeting a photo of her painted belly on March 28 along with an upbeat message: "My attempt @ festiveness on 327! For ATLITL thank u + I?U! Comin soon #dembabies! LYMA+thanx 4 making me happy:)."

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